Between Arab and White: Race and Ethnicity in the Early Syrian American Diaspora

290 Pages·2009·1.326 MB·English

by  Sarah M. A. Gualtieri

Between Arab and White
AMERICAN CROSSROADS
Edited by Earl Lewis, George Lipsitz, Peggy Pascoe, George Sánchez, and
Dana Takagi
Between Arab and White
Race and Ethnicity in the Early Syrian
American Diaspora
Sarah M.A. Gualtieri
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley . Los Angeles . London
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tinguished university presses in the United States,
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University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2009 by The Regents of the University of Califor-
nia
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gualtieri, Sarah M. A.
Between Arab and White : race and ethnicity in
the early Syrian American diaspora / Sarah M.A.
Gualtieri.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn: 978-0-520-25532-6 (cloth : alk. paper) —
isbn: 978-0-520-25534-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Syrian Americans—Race identity—History.
2. Syrian Americans—Ethnic identity—History.
3. Syrian Americans—History. 4. United States—
Race relations. I. Title.
E184.S98G835 2009
305.892'75691073—dc22 2009003364
Manufactured in the United States of America
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the mini-
mum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (r
1997) (Permanence of Paper).
For my brother Mark, 1963–2007
and our precious mother, Peggy, 1924–2008
“Go well, stay well”

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Note on Terms and Transliterations xv
Introduction 1
1. From Internal to International Migration 21
2. Claiming Whiteness: Syrians and
Naturalization Law 52
3. Nation and Migration: Emergent Arabism
and Diasporic Nationalism 81
4. The Lynching of Nola Romey: Syrian Racial
Inbetweenness in the Jim Crow South 113
5. Marriage and Respectability in the Era
of Immigration Restriction 135
Conclusion 155
Epilogue:Becoming Arab American 165
Notes 191
Bibliography 233
Index 257

Illustrations
1. Map of “Greater Syria” 13
2. Mere Hemcy, participant in the Chicago World’s
Fair, 1893 35
3. Mere Alli Harfush, participant in the Chicago
World’s Fair, 1893 36
4. Sultana Alkazin, her unnamed husband, and
her son Fred in Beirut, ca. 1887 42
5. Sultana Alkazin, Atlantic City, early to mid-1900s 43
6. Major Syrian populations in the United States, 1920 49
7. George Shishim, Los Angeles, ca. 1909 59
8. The Moshy Store, advertised in al-Hoda,1899 96
9. Photo from the play Anna Ascends,printed
in the Syrian World,1927 143
ix